I began to think about the word’s true definition. The concept of race is by no means a new concept, and is one that has come up recently in many of my classes. On the first day of my American Studie

The second definition is just as eye opening as the first because it states that race is “the fact of belonging to a group of humans who share the same physical features”. With this definition “race” takes on its most popular meaning: a factual state of being, in which one must belong to. This commonly used definition gives a false sense of belief that everyone belongs to a different group based on their physical appearance. However, in this second definition of race it is important to notice that the defining physical characteristics of race are not hair and skin color, but just skin color. The definiton implies that two persons having the same dark hair color, but different skin tone no longer belong to the same group. Already it is clear how confusing this one word “race” is.

s 185 class my professor wrote the word language on the blackboard. My professor then defined it as loaded, having baggage and carrying many different meanings. Never having heard language described in this way, my professors’ statement intrigued me. I thought about not only the many different languages which are spoken right here in America, but how within one language a single word can and does have many different meanings. Such meanings go beyond the definitions found in a dictionary because a word in any language is assigned a different meaning each time it is spoken and heard. A word becomes either negative or positive based on the tone in which it is said or the way in which it is perceived. It is this very concept of language that can divide or unite a group of people the same way race does. The same way even the definition of race does.

So what is race? According to the previously mentioned thoughts about language, even the word race can take on many different meanings. The dictionary has assigned many definitions to it which include:

So maybe a better question to ask than what is race, might be who are we as people? Are

Some topics in this essay:
American Studies, African Americans, , Native Son, word race, skin color, definition race, third definition, physical characteristics, hair color, color skin, Richard Wright’s, basis physical characteristics, humans share, physical features, confusing word, breed strain subspecies, belonging humans share, characteristics skin hair, physical characteristics skin,